Rhody Craft Celebrating Expansion and Relocation!

Rhody Craft, a carefully curated Rhode Island gift shop located on the Providence’s East Side, is hosting its “Relocation Celebration” on Thursday, September 7 from 5-8pm. The party is open to the public and will feature food, drinks, free gifts for the first 50 guests, and a 10% discount on all purchases during the event.

Rhody Craft recently moved from 780 Hope Street to a newly expanded, freshly renovated retail space at 769 Hope Street, breathing new life into the former home of Podrat Coin Exchange. The move has already proved successful: Rhody Craft was awarded “Old Favorite, New Space: Gift Boutique” at Rhode Island Monthly’s annual Best of Rhode Island event on July 27.

The store boasts a fun and colorful collection of handmade art, crafts, gifts for all ages (including baby), and more, with a special emphasis on locally made items. A good portion of Rhody Craft’s merchandise is designed in-house, printed locally, and unavailable elsewhere. Proprietor Kim T. Clark is proud to send consignment checks to more than 40 local artists every month for the proceeds from sales of their work. The expansion into the new location has enabled her to increase her offerings to include artists from other states, and well-designed, national, independent brands, while also creating more opportunities to support local artists.

“This party is to officially introduce our new space, which is bigger and better than ever, and to say thank you to the patrons, vendors, and neighbors who have supported Rhody Craft for the past seven years,” says Clark. “The fact that we’ve managed to grow from a weekly pop-up shop into our third new home, while supporting the local artist community, proves that our model of ‘capitalism with a conscience’ works.”

Clark also uses the store to support social causes. She designed a line of t-shirts bearing messages like “Black Lives Matter” and “+2,864,974 votes” (a reference to Hillary Clinton’s advantage in last year’s popular vote), and for every one sold she donates $10 to organizations like the ACLU, Black Lives Matter, and Emily’s List.

Clark has been a resident of the Summit neighborhood, which includes the stretch of Hope Street where Rhody Craft is located, for more than 25 years, and the neighborhood itself has always been a part of her business plan. She is a member of both the Hope Street Merchants Association and the Summit Neighborhood Association. “I absolutely love it here and there was no question that when it came time to expand, I was staying on Hope Street,” she explains. “This area has a classic Main Street feel and I’m so excited that Rhody Craft will be an even larger part of that.”

The “Rhody Craft Relocation Celebration” is free and open to the public; no purchase is required. Browsers and window shoppers are welcome. “I’m excited that this business is growing and I want to share it with everyone,” says Clark.